System and Method for Call Distribution

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method for distributing phone calls includes the steps of receiving an inquiry from an individual having caller identification information, determining a call time to call the individual, generating a text message in response to receiving the inquiry, where the text message includes the call time and service provider information and the service provider information includes a service provider telephone number, automatically transmitting the text message to the individual from the service provider prior to the call time, and automatically initiating a phone call to the individual at the call time from the service provider telephone number. A system and computer-readable medium are also disclosed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/078,442, filed Mar. 23, 2016, entitled “System and Method for CallDistribution,” the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated inits entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the distribution of a telephone callacross multiple buyers or agents. In particular, non-limitingembodiments of the invention apply to sales organizations where callsare distributed to multiple buyers or agents.

Description of the Related Art

When a customer calls into a telephone number seeking a potentialservice provider (e.g., call-buyer) either through direct dial orbrokered by a warm call transfer agent or transferred ‘blind’ by anagent without any 3-party warm introduction, speed is of the essence interms of decreasing customer hold times and helping to foster a positiveemotional state in the mind of the caller. Being able to call out tomultiple potential buyers in a near simultaneous manner, staggeredmanner, or prioritized manner is important. This applies both acrosscompeting customers within the same service category, as well as withina company across multiple competing sales agents. In both situations,people are competing to speak with the caller. If everyone were toreceive the caller's phone number, everyone would have sufficientinformation to contact the customer and the value of the caller'sinformation is therefore diminished by the act of transmitting theirphone number. Current call marketplace technology is setup for singlebuyer distribution, or if multiple potential buyers are involved, thosesystems will sequentially call one call-buyer at a time to try tocontrol the distribution of information and related reduction of valueas caller information is presented to multiple buyers. If the callerinformation is not disclosed, a static or constant number is used inplace of all callers' telephone numbers for a given marketing campaignand this same static number is displayed to all competing buyers orcompeting agents for all calls facilitated on the marketing campaign.When a competing buyer requires geographical information that isnormally conveyed by a caller's telephone number to properly routecalls, these static or constant phone number calls typically must beconnected in a staged method wherein a receptionist or call screeningperson must answer the call to then properly route the call internallywith the buyer organization.

A type of call may be either: i) a “live transfer”/“warm call transfer,”meaning a call transferred by a call center agent who introduces thecaller to a different agent before dropping off the call; or ii) adirectly-dialed consumer call, where the caller dials the number and isdirectly connected to the sales agent or iii) a “blind transfer” meaninga call transferred by a call center agent into an additional calldistribution path without providing any introduction between the callerand the receiving agent. In these types of calls, callsuppliers/generators typically will pass one of the following options asthe caller identification (Caller ID) telephone number:

Actual Caller ID Number of the Caller: The caller's telephone number istransmitted directly as-is. This is the most common occurrence for acall that is initiated directly by a consumer dialing into an advertisedtelephone number that is directly connected with an advertiser.

Alternative Caller ID: Advertising Campaign Specific Phone number—astatic caller ID number such as 800-555-1234 that represents thespecific advertised phone number (advertising campaign phone number);Fixed Caller ID Number Mask—a static telephone number used for agrouping of calls or advertising campaigns, e.g., a fixed caller IDnumber used by a warm call transfer call center for all or a designatedcategory or group of their transfers; and Restricted or Blank CallerID—the caller ID phone number is blank and may show Restricted as thecaller ID name.

Several key limitations exist with the current state of caller IDtransmission relating to the selling of phone calls across multiplecompeting call-buyers. Once a consumer's telephone number is displayedto a prospective call-buyer's telephone or telephone system, a record ofthat call attempt exists in the prospective call-buyer's telephonesystem call log. Therefore, the indication of interest and the means ofcontacting that consumer have been transmitted to the prospectivecall-buyer even if the prospective call-buyer does not answer the phoneor answers the phone but does not press a key to accept the call. Forexample, if the call is offered to five (5) buyers, and is awarded andsold to one (1) of those five (5) buyers, the non-winning four (4)buyers have received the expression of interest from this consumer andthe means of contacting the caller outside of the call supplier's calltracking system, therefore diluting the value to the ‘awarded’ buyer whopurchased the call and preventing the call supplier from monetizing thefollow-up call-backs the four (4) non-winning buyers may make to thecaller outside of the call supplier's call tracking system.

If instead, the call supplier offers the call to only a single buyer oragent, then the caller is subjected to potentially long hold times orwill be passed into voicemail. The shorter the hold time prior toconnecting two parties, the higher the connection success rate, asdefined by two parties engaged in conversation. The longer the hold timeprior to connecting two parties, the lower the connection success rate.With longer hold times, the dropped call percentage increases asconsumers who grow weary hang-up prior to being connected. Consumers whoare connected faster are also in a better emotional state than those whowait on hold for a long time. Consumers who wait a long time on holdbecome fatigued and are less likely to engage in a productive salesconversation.

Another approach to solve for the dissemination of the consumer'sexpression of interest and the means of contacting the consumer is touse a static Alternative Caller ID telephone number. Several limitationsof this approach exist. Call Reconciliation Accounting: The call-buyerdoes not have a straightforward means of discussing specific calls withthe call supplier because multiple calls on call-buyer's call log sharethe same alternative caller ID number. This makes reconciliation ofqualified call counts and the discussion and follow-up transactionsrelated to the specific calls and the set of calls inordinatelydifficult. Further, when you want to allow multiple buyers to competefor the call, e.g., speed to press a key competitions, the problem oftracking activity becomes compounded. Call Geographic Distribution: Ifthe call-buyer depends on using geography of the caller's telephonenumber, e.g., the area code, for the purpose of automated calldistribution/routing to different geographically disparate sales officesor agents, the static caller ID alternative approach does not transmitany information about the geography of the caller.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, and generally, it is the object of the present invention toprovide improved systems and methods for call distribution.

In one preferred and non-limiting embodiment of the present invention,provided is a caller identification masking system that disaggregatesthe caller's unique telephone number from related important pieces ofinformation used to track and geographically distribute the call. Bydoing so, calls can now be offered to multiple competing buyers orcompeting agents more freely so the lead time to find an availablematching buyer or agent and connect that buyer or agent to the caller isgreatly reduced.

According to a preferred and non-limiting embodiment of the presentinvention, provided is a computer-implemented method for distributingphone calls, comprising the steps of receiving or initiating a telephonecall from or with a caller, the telephone call associated with calleridentification information for the caller; generating, with at least oneprocessor, masked caller identification information by masking a portionof the caller identification information; transmitting the masked calleridentification information to a plurality of potential call-buyers;determining, with at least one processor, a call-buyer of the pluralityof potential call-buyers to receive the incoming phone call; and storingthe caller identification information with the masked calleridentification information.

According to another preferred and non-limiting embodiment of thepresent invention, provided is a system for distributing phone calls,comprising at least one computer including at least one processor,wherein the at least one computer is in communication with a telephonenetwork, the at least one computer programmed or configured to: receiveor initiate a telephone call from or with a caller, the telephone callassociated with caller identification information for the caller;generate masked caller identification information by masking at least aportion of the caller identification information; transmit the maskedcaller identification information to a plurality of potentialcall-buyers; award the telephone call to a call-buyer of the pluralityof potential call-buyers; and store the caller identificationinformation that was masked with the masked caller identificationinformation.

According to a further preferred and non-limiting embodiment of thepresent invention, provided is a non-transitory computer-readable mediumcomprising program instructions that, when executed by at least oneprocessor, cause the at least one processor to: receive or initiate atelephone call from or with a caller, the telephone call associated withcaller identification information for the caller; generate, with atleast one processor, masked caller identification information by maskinga portion of the caller identification information; call a plurality ofpotential call-buyers in at least one lot, wherein calls to call-buyersin a single lot are initiated substantially simultaneously, and whereincalls to call-buyers in multiple lots are staggered in time; transmitthe masked caller identification information to the plurality ofpotential call-buyers; determine, with at least one processor, acall-buyer of the plurality of potential call-buyers to receive theincoming phone call; and store the caller identification informationwith the masked caller identification information.

According to yet a further non-limiting embodiment, provided is acomputer-implemented method for dynamically calculating call-buyerrankings in a call distribution system, comprising the steps ofreceiving or initiating an telephone call from or with a caller;determining, with at least one processor, a pool of potentialcall-buyers to rank for distributing the telephone call, wherein eachcall-buyer of the pool of potential call-buyers is associated with aplurality of parameters; sorting, with at least one processor, the poolof call-buyers into a priority list based at least partially on at leastone parameter of the plurality of parameters for each call-buyer; andtransfer the telephone call to a call-buyer selected based on thepriority list. In non-limiting embodiments, the method may furtherinclude the step of determining, with at least one processor, at leastone weight for each call-buyer based at least partially on the pluralityof parameters associated with each call-buyer, wherein the pool ofcall-buyers is sorted into the priority list based at least partially onthe at least one weight for each call-buyer.

Further, in non-limiting embodiments, the method for dynamicallycalculating call-buyer rankings may include a plurality of parametersfor each call-buyer that comprise a targeted percentage of the callswithin a period time, and the pool of call-buyers may be is ranked basedat least partially on achieving the targeted percentage of calls foreach call-buyer. Further, in some examples, the pool of call-buyers maybe sorted by normalizing the targeted percentage of calls value for eachcall-buyer that is qualified and available to receive the call;calculating a call gap based at least partially on the normalizedtargeted percentage of calls value for each call-buyer, a time period,and a number of calls within the time period; and ordering the pool ofpotential call-buyers based at least partially on the call gap for eachcall-buyer. In even further embodiments, the plurality of parameters foreach call-buyer comprises a targeted percentage of the calls within aperiod time, and the pool of call-buyers is ranked based at leastpartially on achieving the targeted percentage of calls for eachcall-buyer. The plurality of potential call-buyers may also beidentified based at least partially on at least one of the following: aprice-per-call, a real-time auction for the call, or any combinationthereof. Additionally, determining the call-buyer to receive thetelephone call may comprise ranking the plurality of potentialcall-buyers, where the call-buyers are called in lots, and where thecalls initiated to the call-buyers in a lot are initiated substantiallysimultaneously, and wherein the calls initiated to call-buyers indifferent lots are staggered in time.

The method for dynamically calculating call-buyer rankings may furthercomprise determining, with at least one processor, a pool of potentialcall-buyers to rank for distributing the telephone call, where thecall-buyer that connected with the same caller is excluded from the poolof potential call-buyers offered the opportunity to receive said secondtelephone call connection with the same caller. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein receiving or initiating a second telephonecall from or with the same caller comprises determining if a call-buyerwas previously and firstly connected with said caller and if said firstconnection occurred within a specified trailing time duration,connecting said call buyer exclusively again with the same call-buyer.

In a further non-limiting embodiment, provided is a computer-implementedmethod for assembling a list of potential call-buyers in a calldistribution system, comprising the steps of receiving or initiating antelephone call from or with a caller; and determining, with at least oneprocessor, a pool of potential call-buyers from among a list ofcall-buyers pre-screened by the call-seller to meet minimum servicequality standards. In some embodiments, the pool of potentialcall-buyers to be offered the call is pre-selected by the call-seller tomeet minimum service quality standards. Further, the pool of potentialcall-buyers to be offered the call is pre-selected by the caller online.The pool of potential call-buyers to be offered the call may also bepre-selected by the caller through an interactive voice response menusystem. The pool of potential call-buyers to be offered the call ispre-selected by the caller online or through an interactive voiceresponse system, wherein the potential call-buyers are sequentiallycalled and connected with the caller until such time as all pre-selectedcall-buyers have either been connected or the caller has stopped theprocess by pressing a key into an Interactive Voice Response menu.Further, the pool of potential call-buyers to be offered the call ispre-selected by the call-seller, where the potential call-buyers aresequentially called and connected with the caller until such time as allpre-selected call-buyers have either been connected or the caller hasstopped the process by pressing a key into an Interactive Voice Responsemenu.

In a further non-limiting embodiment, provided is a computer-implementedmethod for improving the telephone call answer rate when calling a lead:sending an Short Message Server (SMS) or Multimedia Messaging Service(MMS) text message in advance of receiving or initiating a telephonecall from or with a caller, where the SMS or MMS text message greets thelead and informs them who will be calling in response to their inquiry,from what telephone number said call will be coming and what phonenumber to call directly if caller prefers to directly dial thecall-buyer at another time. Also, the SMS or MMS text message is sentfrom a pool of numbers such that the selected number matches the area ofthe lead's telephone number. Further, the SMS or MMS text message bodyincludes a telephone number where the number is selected from a pool ofnumbers such that the selected number matches the area code of thelead's telephone number.

In a further non-limiting embodiment, provided is a computer-implementedmethod for receiving and distributing phone calls, comprising the stepsof receiving or initiating a telephone call from or with a caller,taking a voice telephone message from the caller; generating, with atleast one processor, distributing that message to one representative orcall-buyer who first becomes available to receive said message andconnecting said representative or call-buyer directly to the caller.

In yet a further non-limiting embodiment, provided is acomputer-implemented method for receiving and distributing phone calls,comprising: receiving or initiating a telephone call from or with acaller, querying said caller with options to determine when a returncall should be attempted via interactive voice response system;presenting the time options from among the list of as soon as possible,morning, mid-day, afternoon, evening, or selecting a specific time ofday; wherein the system registers and confirms said caller's return calltime request; wherein the system facilitates a call between the callerand the called party at said specified time.

Further, in non-limiting embodiments, the caller leaves a telephonevoice recording to go along with the time of day for return callrequest. Also, the caller's selected time confirmed and reminders may besetup for the caller and called party using a set of the followingmethods: SMS or MMS text message, email, calendar meeting invitations,and telephone call confirmation. The optional audio message may bedelivered to the called party in concert with the caller's time of dayfor return call request.

These and other features and characteristics of the present invention,as well as the methods of operation and functions of the relatedelements of structures and the combination of parts and economies ofmanufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of thefollowing description and the appended claims with reference to theaccompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification,wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in thevarious figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that thedrawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only andare not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. As usedin the specification and the claims, the singular form of “a,” “an,” and“the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictatesotherwise.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a diagram showing a telecommunications system according tothe principles of the present invention;

FIG. 1B is a diagram showing the caller's phone number coming into thesystem and being assigned a unique masked caller ID number, wherein thearea code and telephone number prefix or exchange of the caller's phonenumber is preserved, according to the principles of the presentinvention;

FIG. 1C is a diagram showing the caller's phone number coming into thesystem and being assigned a unique masked caller ID number, wherein thearea code of the caller's phone number is preserved, according to theprinciples of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of the system, wherein the area code of the caller'snumber is not preserved, according to the principles of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the system, wherein an interactive voice responseprompt is provided to the caller or to a transfer agent beforeproceeding into the caller ID masking process, according to theprinciples of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of the system that shows the masked caller ID beingpresented to a potential call-buyer or agent's telephone or telephonecall routing system, according to the principles of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of the system performing the un-mask operation,revealing the true phone number of the caller and associated data,according to the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of the system, wherein multiple potentialcall-buyers or agents are offered a call at the same time and all of thepotential call-buyers are presented with the unique masked caller IDnumber, according to the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram of the system showing the call being offered tomultiple potential call-buyers and then being awarded to a singlecall-buyer who receives the unmasked caller information, according tothe principles of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a diagram of the system showing the call being offered to morethan one (1) lot of potential call-buyers at different points in timeand a post-award call qualification duration that elapses before thecaller's information is unmasked to the awarded call-buyer, according tothe principles of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a diagram of the system that overlays the timeline from FIG. 8on top of a flow diagram, according to the principles of the presentinvention;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of a method for ranking call-buyers accordingto the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 11 shows an advertisement on a search page according to theprinciples of the present invention; and

FIG. 12 shows a graphical user interface with user-selected serviceproviders according to the principles of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As used herein, the terms “communication” and “communicate” refer to thereceipt or transfer of one or more signals, messages, calls, commands,or other type of data. For one unit or device to be in communicationwith another unit or device means that the one unit or device is able toreceive data from and/or transmit data to the other unit or device. Acommunication may use a direct or indirect connection, and may be wiredand/or wireless in nature. Additionally, two units or devices may be incommunication with each other even though the data transmitted may bemodified, processed, routed, etc., between the first and second unit ordevice. For example, a first unit may be in communication with a secondunit even though the first unit passively receives data, and does notactively transmit data to the second unit. As another example, a firstunit may be in communication with a second unit if an intermediary unitprocesses data from one unit and transmits processed data to the secondunit. It will be appreciated that numerous other arrangements arepossible.

In preferred and non-limiting embodiments, provided are methods ofimproving the connection success rate and decreasing the hold time oninbound calls from prospective clients into sales organizations, forboth direct client-dialed calls and for both blind call transfer-styleand warm call transfer-style calls originated by call centerqualification and transfer agents. Non-limiting embodiments involve theuse of call routing, caller ID telephone numbers, passing data alongwith telephone calls, call-seller protection through caller identitymanagement, non-exclusive rate-shopping to exclude previously soldbuyers from the distribution pool, exclusive buyer protection mode, andmulti-buyer distribution. Multi-buyer distribution with “speed to press1”, speed to keypress, speed to answer or similar competitions decreasehold times, improve the connection success rate, and the emotionalcharacter of the exchange between the customer and the awarded sales orcustomer service person. Non-limiting embodiments of the presentinvention also relate to additional features pertaining to callscheduling, automated facilitation of said scheduled calls, and advancesin intelligent abandonment through automated call queuing.

Referring now to a preferred and non-limiting embodiment of theinvention, provided is a caller identification masking system thatenables a call-supplier to offer a call to one or more competingcall-buyers by using a unique caller ID mask for each call or for eachcaller. The caller's actual telephone number is withheld from thepotential call-buyers at the time when the call is offered to them.Therefore, if the call-buyers do not accept the call and/or are notawarded the call, they have no means of contacting the caller outside ofthe call supplier's call distribution system. The actual contactinformation is withheld until either a viable connection or a sale ofthe call occurs. The resulting unique caller ID telephone number maskbecomes a unique identifier for the call or caller in the initial datatransactions between the call-supplier's call distribution system andthe call logging and related tracking systems of the potentialcall-buyers and the awarded call-buyer.

Referring now to FIG. 1A, a telecommunications system 100 is shownaccording to a preferred and non-limiting embodiment. A caller 30 may bean individual or entity that is calling a telephone number hosted by theplatform 32. The platform 32 may include one or more computers anddatabases for receiving and distributing telephone calls from callers 30to a pool 36 of one or more potential call-buyers. For example, theplatform 32 may include a caller ID telephone number masking and calldistribution system 2, including one or more computers, includingmemory, processors, and/or the like, and software applicationsprogrammed or configured to receive a signal that a telephone call isreceived, and process information relating to the telephone call. Thecaller ID masking and call distribution system 2 may be in one locationor, in other embodiments, the components may be distributed in differentlocations. The caller ID telephone number masking and call distributionsystem 2 may be in communication with a database 34 including caller IDinformation, unmasked data matched with corresponding masked data oridentifiers, or other like data useful for implementing thetelecommunications system 100.

With continued reference to FIG. 1A, the telephone call initiated by thecaller 30 may include data 1, or such data 1 may be provided by aservice provider, identifying the caller 30. This caller ID informationmay include a telephone number, name, address, and/or any otheridentifying information that is transmitted from the caller 30 or isotherwise available through a service provider. Caller ID informationmay also be looked-up in third-party databases once at least a portionof such information can be identified. The caller ID masking and calldistribution system 2 receives the identifying data 1 and processes itto generate masked data 3. The masked data 3 is transmitted to aplurality of competing call-buyers 11, 12, 13. The system 2 may thendetermine which call-buyer to award the telephone call to, and providethe unmasked data 1, or at least a portion thereof, to the call-buyer 13awarded the call. It will be appreciated that, in some embodiments, themasked data 3 may include the unmasked data 1 in an encrypted orotherwise concealed form. In other embodiments, the identifying datathat is masked is stored on a database 14 and must be retrieved andseparately provided to the call-buyer 13 awarded the call.

As used herein, the term “telephone call” may refer to any voicecommunication initiated over a telecommunications network including, forexample, plain old telephone service (POTS), voice-over-IP (VOIP), andother like communication methods. It will be appreciated that variousmeans of audio communication may be utilized.

The unique caller ID mask may act as a key that is used to update thecall-buyer's systems of record at the appropriate times with the realcontact information and any associated meta-data that is collected priorto the call connection. In one non-limiting embodiment, the caller IDname cannot be identified by the prospective call-buyers because they donot have the actual caller's telephone number. The caller's actualtelephone number is only presented to the specific call-buyer or agentwho is awarded the call, i.e., gets connected to the caller, either atthe time the connection/award occurs or at later time once a callduration milestone has been reached, e.g., when the call connectionduration reaches a specified or predetermined duration (for example, “X”seconds) indicating that a qualified call has occurred and the relatedbillable/sale event has occurred.

As used herein, the terms “call-buyer,” “call-buyers,” “serviceprovider,” and “service providers” may refer to any entity or agent thatpurchases phone calls for non-branded category phone calls, orbrand-specific or company-specific advertisement phone calls.Non-branded category phone calls may include calls from consumersseeking insurance, tax debt resolution, student loan consolidation,mortgage refinances, reverse mortgages, education, solar power, socialsecurity disability representation, plumbing, flooring, home securitysystems, psychic services, life insurance, auto insurance, medicalinsurance, other insurance, assorted legal services, and/or the like, inresponse to category advertisements as opposed to company-specificadvertisements, which are offered to competing providers of the givenproduct or service. These competing providers may be pre-approvedparticipants meeting minimum quality ratings thereby comprising acurated list by the call seller or network owner. Further the competingservice providers may be selected by the caller him or herself online orvia designation through interactive voice response on the call.Brand-specific or company-specific advertisement phone calls may beoffered to multiple competing salespeople who are all representatives ofthe same brand.

The source of the phone calls can be, for example, consumer initiatedinbound calls to an advertised number, automated outbound calls withprerecorded messages, warm call transfers, and blind transfers.Automated outbound calls with prerecorded messages may involve the leadpressing “1” or some other key or sequence to be connected with acall-buyer, after which the call-buyer competition is staged. Warm calltransfers may occur when a consumer and a transfer agent connect to acall-buyer, and the transfer agent introduces the consumer to thecall-buyer. Blind transfers may occur where a transfer agent qualifiesand passes consumers into a competition, where the consumer is thendirectly connected to the awarded call-buyer without any introductionfrom the transfer agent.

When a call is being offered to multiple competing call-buyers, thecall-supplier may add a telephone keypad key-press requirement in orderto award the call to a live person (e.g., a “With Verify” mode, asopposed to a “No Verify” mode that does not have such a requirement).Doing so avoids transferring the caller into a specific call-buyer'stelephone routing system hold queue or their voicemail answering system.

The telephone number can be masked using any number of algorithms andmethods. The telephone number may be represented as a string, integer,multi-character array, or in any other type of data structure. Thetelephone number can then be processed by an algorithm that manipulatessome or all of the digits and/or characters, generating masked caller IDinformation. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that suchalgorithms may be implemented in various ways.

When potential call-buyers need information about the geographiclocation of a caller (i.e., city, state or zip code) to correctly routethe call to the appropriate sales office, service office, or licensedbroker, call-buyers typically depend on the using the caller's phonenumber within their internal call distribution mechanism (commonlyreferred to as an ACD or Automatic Call Distributer). Therefore, inthese situations, restricting the caller ID telephone number, using astatic caller ID telephone number, or otherwise preventing thetransmission of the identity of the caller, can prove troublesome. Innon-limiting embodiments, the call-seller can preserve the area code ofthe caller origin. Furthermore the call-seller can preserve the areacode and 3-digit telephone number prefix or exchange of the caller'sactual telephone number.

Non-limiting embodiments of the present invention enable new ways ofselling phone calls by call-sellers to call-buyers by allowingsimultaneous and overlapping call-seeks or queries to be made tomultiple potential call-buyers' phones and phone systems using a uniquecaller ID telephone number that provides sufficient information for calltracking, call logging, and unique leads being created in leadmanagement and customer relationship management (CRM) systems, butwithout sharing of the highly valuable unique identifying contactinformation of the caller until it is supposed to be shared either atthe moment of call award/connection or the moment of sale. Non-limitingembodiments of the present invention also provide for a method oftransmitting sufficient information for call tracking, reconciliation,and dispute resolution. Further, non-limiting embodiments may providefor the asynchronous unmarking/updating of the correct lead record inmultiple call and lead tracking systems.

Being able to poll multiple competing call-buyers or agents foravailability and acceptance of the call brings at least two importantand related advantages: being able to connect a caller to a sales orservice agent much faster leading to higher overall connection ratesstemming from fewer calls dropped by consumers who grow weary andhang-up prior to being connected; and better quality conversationsleading to higher sales from consumers who are connected faster becausethey are in a better emotional state than those who wait on hold for along time.

In a non-limiting embodiment, the area code of the caller's telephonenumber is preserved followed by a 7-digit lead identification number, a0+6-digit lead identification number, or the like. Moreover, the areacode may be identified and obtained from matching lead data but might bedifferent from the caller's telephone number. For example, if the calleris calling about refinancing his property in Pittsburgh, Pa., but hisphone number is associated with a New Jersey area code, the system maymatch the caller to the customer's data record, but use an area codeassociated with said property, such that the call can be properly routedto state licensed hunt groups within a pool of potential call-buyers.Additionally, the area code can trigger the correct display of thecaller's general geography on the recipient's phone system or thecity/state and zip can be accurately transmitted using a data protocolto a web or softphone, or to a hardware phone using the SessionInitiation Protocol (SIP).

As shown in FIG. 1C, and according to a preferred and non-limitingembodiment, the caller's phone number 1 is transmitted into the callerID masking and call distribution system 2 and, based on this data, theunique caller ID mask 3 is generated. In non-limiting examples, thecaller ID masking and call distribution system 2 may include one or morecomputers running one or more software applications. The variouscomponents of the system 2 may be located together or distributedremotely. For example, caller ID masking software may execute on one ormore computers and be programmed or configured to accept an unmaskednumber and output a masked number, or to accept a masked number andoutput an unmasked number. The system 2 may also include one or moredatabases including an index of masked and related unmasked numbers, acall distribution system, and other hardware and/or software components.

With continued reference to FIG. 1C, the area code of the caller'stelephone number 1 (e.g., “412”) is preserved in the resulting caller IDmask 3. The caller ID mask 3 can be configured in this way tocommunicate the caller's area code so that the potential call buyers caninternally route the call based on geography and apply the 7-digit maskto the remaining numbers. The 7-digits may use a sequential integerderived from an internal lead identification number that identifies theunique call in the caller ID masking and call distribution system 2. The7-digits provide 9.9-million unique numbers before repeating within anarea code and as such should suffice for all practicable leadreconciliation needs. Alternately, a static area code may be used andfollowed by a 7-digit lead identification number.

Referring to FIG. 1B, and according to a non-limiting embodiment, thearea code and the telephone number prefix or exchange may be preservedfrom the caller's phone number 1 after being processed by the caller IDmasking and call distribution system 2. As shown, the unique caller IDmask 3 may include an identifier for the last-four digits, and theoriginal area code and telephone number prefix or exchange of thetelephone number 1.

In non-limiting embodiments, additional or fewer digits may be masked.For example, only the last four (4) digits may be masked, preserving thefirst six (6) digits including the area code and the telephone numberprefix or exchange (e.g., “412-555”). The telephone number prefix orexchange (e.g., “555”) may be used to specify an additional level ofgeographic area or region specificity for use in geo-routing bycall-buyers. Further, certain telephone carriers may experiencedifficulties with a telephone number prefix or exchange that begins witha zero (0), which may be the case when using a 7-digit leadidentification number (e.g., 412-0XX-XXXX). This may cause certaintelephone carriers to block these numbers as non-callable numbers.

The advantages of the call distribution system include, withoutlimitation and as an example, the withholding of the caller's contactinformation until a viable connection or sale of said phone call occurs.Fewer calls are wasted on call buyers who are not prepared to receivethe call, and the call can be beneficially routed to an availablecall-buyer. This increase in the call supplier's connection rate andreduction of disputes over failed connections and rejected calls makesthe call selling process more efficient and has the potential to lowerthe price of the calls for the call buyers. These unique masked callerID telephone number features of non-limiting embodiments of the presentinvention maintain the benefits of call tracking systems and theassociated data integrations between call routing systems and leadmanagement systems and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.The unique caller ID mask provides the key between the systems and thiskey can then be used to update the call-buyers' systems of record at theappropriate times with the real contact information and any associatedmeta-data that has been collected prior to the call connection.

As shown in the non-limiting embodiment depicted in FIG. 2, the callerID mask may use the entire 10-digit integer (for U.S. telephonenumbers). This embodiment yields 9.9-billion unique numbers beforerepeating.

In FIG. 3, an interactive voice response (IVR) menu 5 is presented tothe caller or to a-call transfer agent before proceeding into the callerID masking and call distribution system 2. The IVR menu 5 can be used toaccept the caller's telephone number, and then apply the calleridentification masking system to the entered number. Further still, theIVR 5 can be used to gather a geographic code such as a zip code orstate, and use this entered information to select the appropriate areacode or correct area code and telephone number prefix or exchange to usein the formulation of the unique caller ID mask. In FIG. 3, the uniquecaller ID mask 6 has a different area code that was entered in the IVRmenu 5.

FIG. 4 shows the call distribution system 2 transmitting the caller IDmask 7 to a potential call-buyer's phone or automated call distributor 8according to a non-limiting embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows the call distribution system 2 performing the un-mask/datareveal operation according to a preferred and non-limiting embodiment.The caller ID masking and call distribution system 2 presents thecaller's true information containing the caller's actual phone number 1,and related identifying call information and lead form information 9(e.g., caller ID name, city, state and zip code where the phone numberis registered, call duration (once the call has ended), a link to thecall recording, lead contact information with full address, alternatenumbers, and answers to qualifying questions that may have been capturedthrough an online self-service form, through an IVR (interactive voiceresponse menu system), or by a call center agent), to the awarded buyer10.

In non-limiting embodiments, when a call-buyer is awarded a call (e.g.,at the time of the award), or when the call duration threshold for aqualified call sale occurs (e.g., at the time of the sale), the callerID number and any associated identifying data, e.g., caller ID name, andthe city, state and/or zip code where the caller's telephone number isregistered, etc., can be unmasked in several ways. The process ofunmasking the caller's identifying information includes, but is notlimited to:

1. Via an electronic post into the buyer's customer relationshipmanagement software, lead management software, or other related trackingsystem, such as Google Analytics at the time of award or at the time ofsale;

2. Via email transmission;

3. Via SMS text transmission;

4. Via an electronic update post, wherein the initial post at the timeof award can be made using the masked number to create the lead recordin the buyer's CRM and then this lead record can be updated with theactual caller's identifying information at the moment when the callduration reaches the qualified call duration threshold;

5. Via update messaging to the buyer's web browser phone, soft-phone, orSIP phone to update the phone's display;

6. At the moment of award before connecting the call, the telephonenumber can be spoken to the buyer/agent using text-to-speech; and/or

7. Via a screen pop up dialog box within the buyer's CRM, by opening anew browser tab or updating a browser web frame within an existing tabor triggering a pop-up, modal lightbox, or the like.

FIG. 6 illustrates a non-limiting embodiment in which the caller IDmasking system and call distribution system 2 is used to offer a singlecall to multiple competing call-buyers, typically from differentorganizations, Potential Call-Buyer One 11, Potential Call-Buyer Two 12and Potential Call-Buyer Three 13. Each of these call-buyers 11, 12, 13is presented with the masked caller ID 7 number. This embodiment is alsoapplicable with competing sales agents within a single organization. Ina non-limiting embodiment, the caller ID mask may be presented to onlysome of the competing call-buyers while the actual caller's telephonenumber may be presented to one or more call-buyers to accommodate systemlimitations for updating call lead records for said buyers.

FIG. 7 is a further, non-limiting embodiment. In FIG. 7, the call awardprocess 14 and the Awarded Call Buyer 10 receiving the caller's phonenumber 1 and any associated call metadata and lead form data 9 areshown. In this embodiment, the unmask event can occur at the moment ofaward or at a later time. As illustrated, the masked caller ID 7 is sentto all three Potential Call Buyers 11, 12, 13 and a Call Award Process14 is initiated. The Call Award Process 14 may include any number ofsoftware routines for determining which Potential Call Buyer 11, 12, 13is the Awarded Call Buyer 10. Various methods are described herein forimplementing the Call Award Process 14. Once the Awarded Call Buyer 10is determined, the unmasked phone number 1 and data 9 is shown.

FIG. 8 illustrates a timeline according to a non-limiting embodimentwhere a set of potential events are shown in sequence. A call isinitiated 15, presented to a first lot of potential call-buyers 16, andthen after some duration, presented to a second lot of potentialcall-buyers 17, and then the call is awarded to a call-buyer 18, andthen another specific duration threshold is achieved where the connectedtwo-party call becomes sufficiently long to be a qualified call 19, andthen the unmask data reveal event occurs 20 to reveal the unmasked phonenumber and other data to the buyer's systems.

FIG. 9 illustrates the timeline from FIG. 8, as discussed above, inaddition to a flow diagram according to a preferred and non-limitingembodiment. In the illustrated example, there are multiple lots ofcall-buyers. A call qualification duration threshold value is used, suchthat the data reveal of the unmasked phone number and other data iswithheld until the call achieves said duration threshold and becomes abillable call to the call-buyer. The duration threshold may be apredetermined value, input by a user, and/or dynamically changed basedon other parameters. In other embodiments, the call duration thresholdwill be zero and hence the award/connection of the caller with the buyeris the qualified call/billable event and the unmasking event (e.g., datareveal) may occur at the moment of the connection and award.

In a call-buyer-call-seller marketplace, the call-seller may haveadvertised a telephone number the customer is responding to or may beattempting to transfer the caller from a call transfer agent. In eithercase, the call-seller depends on controlling the lead's contactinformation until such time as a sale can be made. When transmittingcaller ID in a call-seller-call-buyer circumstance, the act oftransmitting a potential customer's (lead's) telephone number may infact grant a potential call-buyer at least two possible pieces ofinformation: (i) information that the caller is potentially interestedin the call-buyer's services; and (ii) means of identifying andcontacting the customer. Therefore, obscuring the caller's phone numberfrom a potential buyer's telephone system, e.g., a caller ID log, CRMcall tracking log, etc., until such time as a positive person-to-personvoice connection can be made adds value to the call-seller. In onenon-limiting embodiment, the call-seller can mask the caller IDinformation until such time as either a positive connection or anotherwise billable event occurs (e.g., connections lasting “X” seconds,or unsuccessful call attempts have been made), at which time thecaller's telephone and other information collected can be made availableto the call-buyer.

In another non-limiting embodiment, using a selectively masked caller IDallows for correct routing, control of the value of the caller, andfacilitates the near-simultaneous offer of the call to competingcall-buyers and to competing sales agents within a call-buyerenterprise.

In non-limiting embodiments, caller ID entry may be used to match a livetransfer call, which cannot pass the caller ID telephone numberdirectly, with a data match option. For example, when a warm calltransfer agent does not have the ability to transmit correct caller IDtelephone number information, or when the caller is using a system thatrestricts the transmission of their actual telephone number, e.g., MagicJack or caller ID blocking system users, this embodiment queries thecaller to either enter the real phone number or the state and/or zipcode for the area that they are calling about, and then uses thatinformation to route the call properly. In this example, the enteredinformation may or may not be used to match to existing customer leaddata prior to routing the call.

For call centers and transfer agents who call a lead/customer or receivea call from a lead/customer and then transfer the lead to a receivingcall center or agent, the intermediate call center or transfer agent maybe unable to pass the phone number to the receiving callcenter/receiving agent. To solve this problem, the system may providesettings for the transfer numbers. In a first setting, the system mayrequire the agent to enter and verify the lead's/customer's phone numberinto an IVR system prior to routing the call to the receiving callcenter/receiving agent. The entered and verified telephone number maythen be presented to the call center/receiving agent directly or after abillable qualification duration threshold has been reached.

Additionally, in a second setting the system may check to ensure thelead's/customer's contract information is present in the system, uponreceipt of such information and prior to allowing the call transfer toprogress. This ensures that any lead data required for use in the calldistribution process or required thereafter by the receiving callcenter/receiving agent is present, matched, and attached to the callprior to connecting the call to the receiving call center/receivingagent. With this setting enabled, the call distribution cannot progresswithout the presence of the matching lead data. It will be appreciatedthat various other settings may be provided with respect to such calltransfers.

In non-limiting embodiments, call information may be combined or joinedwith one or more separately assembled data records. The data may beposted before or after the call into the system, which then facilitatesthe call routing. Further call-buyer purchase orders with dailyqualified call caps (e.g., maximum number of calls the buyer is willingto accept and purchase for a given day of the week), price per qualifiedcall, and customer data filters may be used. A customer data filter mayinclude parameters with a specified value or range such as, for example,Refinance loans with Loan Amount >=X, Loan-To-Value <=Y, and Propertyaddresses located in TX and MA. Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat various parameters and combinations of parameters may be used tofilter customer data. Such filters may be predetermined orentered/selected by a user through a graphical user interface.

In non-limiting embodiments, the true caller ID name, caller IDtelephone number, and lead data may be revealed to an awarded call-buyerupon successful connection or upon a qualified billable event in realtime, e.g., after a predetermined time period, wherein the methods ofthe reveal can be one or more of the following: the system can speak ordisplay information to the awarded agent prior to connecting the call, apost into the call buyer's customer relation management (CRM) platform,a post with agent assignment into the call buyer's CRM, update ofawarded agent's hardware phone display using SIP (or update of their webphone or soft phone using similar data exchange to change the caller IDinformation), an email with all relevant information, and/or SMS text(s)with relevant information.

In non-limiting embodiments, the awarded call-buyer or agent may beidentified via entry of a unique ID or pin into an IVR system withverification, so that the lead post/reveal can be sent in via emailand/or into the call-buyer/advertisers CRM pre-assigned to a specificagent. In other words, the lead may be submitted into the CRMpre-assigned with an identifier (e.g., agent=user@callerready.com) aspart of the lead creation post. This protects the lead within thecall-buyer's CRM from being routed and assigned to another agent.

In non-limiting embodiments, call distribution may be prioritized basedon speed and/or an auction among call-buyers. For example, the systemmay require pressing “1,” or some other key or sequence, to accept acall among call-buyers who are open and requesting matching calls. Oneof the benefits of a multiple call-buyer distribution approach is thatit addresses issues concerning the speed of connection, therebyimproving the connection success rate for the call-supplier andimproving the emotional quality of the conversations that occur. Thisleads to better calls and more sales for the call-buyers. The consumer(caller) also benefits because they receive assistance in a timelymanner. Further, these competitions can be run as auctions to yield themaximum net revenue for the call-supplier, wherein the call-buyer withthe highest price-per-qualified call or effective price-per-qualifiedcall is ranked first in the call order. The buyer with the secondhighest effective price per call is ranked second, and so on.

In non-limiting embodiments involving a real-time auction amongcall-buyers, the effective price-per-call may be calculated based on theprice a buyer is willing to pay, and discounted by various factors suchas, but not limited to, call-buyer specific return rate, rejection rate,percentage of qualified calls to connected calls (e.g., in situationswhere the connected call duration must last a specified duration ornumber of seconds to become a billable qualified call), acceptance rateof the calls offered, lead qualification filters (e.g., wherein thebuyer is only purchasing calls when the lead meets certain criteria),the size of the call-buyer's overall order, and/or the strategic valueof the call-buyer to the aggregator or call-supplier.

In non-limiting embodiments, various methods may be used to rankcompeting call buyers for an incoming call. For example, a quality scoremay be generated by at least one software application using variousfactors, variables, and/or other considerations. Such factors mayinclude, for example, an effective cost-per-call, return rate, strategicpriority, geography, lead data filters and values, return rate, ease ofdoing business, percentage of daily limit filled, order fill rate,concurrency limit utilization, historical offer-to-win rate, historicalqualified billable call-to-awarded call rate, and/or the like. Bynormalizing such data and applying a normalized weighting to each ofthese factors, the system generates an overall ranking for eachpotential matching buyer. Similarly, a multivariate weighting processsuch as the Analytic Hierarchy Process may be used to derive weights forthese component variables of the call-buyer quality score.

A generated call-buyer quality score may be dynamically adjusted basedon ratings, performance metrics, strategic priority, call pacing goalsand daily fill rate, as examples. Call Purchase Orders (e.g., agreementsto purchase calls subject to certain constraints) may be analyzed forvarious factors, including office hours (the specific hours during whichthe buyer is willing to receive calls), limits (daily or hourlyqualified call limits, and/or total qualified call limits on an order),concurrency (e.g., how many utilized lines/calls can the system makeinto a buyer's number at the same time; for example, 10-simultaneouscalls maximum, only one call at any given time, unlimited, and/or thelike), payout (e.g., what the call-buyer agrees to pay for a qualifiedcall), effectiveness rate (e.g., the qualified call to award rate),return rate (e.g., percentage of calls matching the qualified callduration that the buyer requests to return/refund), and/or the like.There may be an automatic shut-off for a call-buyer (i.e., calls will nolonger be offered) if the call-buyer misses all calls during a giventime period, or if the call-buyer meets some other specified parameter.Orders may be tracked, and payments may be collected from call-buyersagainst any prepaid amounts. The system may generate invoicesautomatically based on the collected data.

An automatic shut-off for a call-buyer means the call-buyer failed tocompete or accept calls during an agreed-upon period that they hadstated on a submitted order. In other words, a call-buyer's purchaseorder agrees that the call-buyer will be open and accepting calls duringa certain period and, starting at a time within that period, apredetermined number of calls are presented in a row where thecall-buyer does not answer within an allowable/expected timeframe, e.g.,their line is busy, the calls go into a queue and the buyer does notpress “1” before a predetermined period of time, the calls are connectedbut all fail to reach a minimum qualification duration, etc. Thesesignals specify that the call-buyer is not actually receiving callsproperly when they said they would. Automatic shut-off pauses deliveryin these situations and the incidence of automatic shut-off may be anegative factor in the quality score of a call-buyer.

In non-limiting embodiments, a number of distribution ranking modes maybe selected by a user to control how calls are distributed to thecall-buyers. For example, such distribution ranking modes include, butare not limited to, (1) a Straight Strategic Priority-Weight Rank mode,where a higher priority is a higher rank, (2) a Targeted DistributionMix mode, (3) an Optimal Buyer Weighting mode, and (4) an Optimal BuyerWeighting mode with Targeted Mix and Variable Weighting. Various othermodes, and combinations of modes, are possible.

As described above, various factors may be weighted to rank each of thecall-buyers. First, the system may determine the potential call-buyersto rank based on whether their schedules are open, lines are availablewithin their concurrency limits, not yet reached their daily calllimits, not yet reached their purchase order limits, call matches theirrouting rules, and/or the like.

In a non-limiting embodiment, a trailing time period is determinedduring which the system tries to deliver calls based on the targeteddistribution mix (e.g., last hour, 2-hours, 3-hours, 4-hours, 6-hours,10-hours, 12-hours, 18-hours, 24-hours, 48-hours, 3-days, and/or thelike). In order to calculate the relative proportion of calls deliveredto any given call-buyer during a given time period, the system evaluatesthe proportion of calls delivered within the trailing time period. Agoal of this embodiment is to satisfy as many call-buyers as possible bydelivering the rate or call flow they are desiring withoutoversaturating or starving any given call-buyer for a time period whenthey have sales people awaiting calls.

Various methods, tools, and settings may be used to prevent unattendedcall delivery problems in non-limiting embodiments. For “No Verify”problem cases (e.g., where the system will award/connect the caller to acall-buyer or agent's phone number as soon as the call-buyer or agent'sphone system answers, without having to press any keys), the system mayprovide an optional short call warning to turn a call-buyer offautomatically when the most recent set of a predetermined number (e.g.,“X”) of calls received by that call-buyer lasted less than apredetermined number (e.g., “Y”) of seconds, and send an email or othercommunication to prevent a closed call-buyer from ruining lead deliveryeffectiveness for the call-supplier. For “With Verify” cases (e.g.,where a call-buyer or agent must use a telephone keypress verificationor some other form of verification) an automatic pause call-buyer optionmay be provided for any call-buyer who has received a predeterminednumber (e.g., “X”) of calls offered in a first highest ranked call-buyerposition wherein the call-buyer is called prior to calling any otherpotential call-buyers and yet this call-buyer is not without winning anycalls. In such cases, the system may automatically notify acall-supplier that the call-buyer is experiencing a problem and may needa different call routing configuration to actually win callcompetitions, e.g., initiate calls to this buyer with longer headstartand a headstart lot size of one (1) to get any calls, or that thecall-buyer's system or office may be shut down.

The Straight Strategic Priority Ranking mode ranks call-buyers based onweights only, irrespective how frequently a given call-buyer is winningcall competitions, e.g., no consideration is being made to attempt toaward competing buyers a targeted share of the calls in a given timeframe.

The Targeted Distribution Mix mode of ranking and fulfilling ordersensures all competing call-buyers are presented the opportunity toreceive a minimum share of calls in a given timeframe. In this mode,each call-buyer group is assigned a targeted percentage of the calldelivery, e.g., 10% of calls for call-buyer one, 20% of calls forcall-buyer two, etc. The targeted distribution mix mode ranks matchingcall-buyers based on a difference between the targeted percentage ofcalls delivered minus the actual percentage of calls delivered to thegiven buyer during a trailing time period, and essentially ignores theother potential weighting factors. The buyer with largest difference isranked first in the calling order. Typically, the targeted distributionmix refers to “qualified/billable calls” delivered within the timeframe,but it can also be based the number of “calls awarded” or the “callsoffered”. The “targeted distribution mix” variable may be normalizedamong available matching call-buyers. This can be done by summing thetotal number of available matching call-buyers targeted mix percentage,and then dividing each of the available matching call-buyer's targeteddistribution mix by this sum to get the normalized target distributionmix for each call-buyer and finally calculating the gap between thenormalized target distribution mix and the actual distribution mix andranking from the highest difference to the lowest difference. Each timea call is received, the system can therefore find matching call-buyers,total them, normalize the weights, and rank the buyers accordingly. Forexample, three (3) matching available call-buyers each having a 10%targeted distribution mix can be normalized such that each receives 33%of calls.

With the Targeted Distribution Mix mode enabled, the system attempts totransfer a specific percentage of calls within a time period to eachcall-buyer based on the targeted distribution mix value for thatcall-buyer. The system will attempt to maximize the spacing betweencalls for each call-buyer to provide a steady delivery or pacing to eachcall-buyer instead of fulfilling each call-buyer sequentially. In otherwords, this method tries to smooth call delivery over time and avoidoversaturating any given call-buyer at any given time.

The Targeted Distribution Mix may then be calculated based on thelargest calculated Call Gap value. The Call Gap may be calculated withthe following equation: [Normalized Targeted Distribution Mix−ActualDistribution Mix] where the Actual Distribution Mix is (Connected callswithin Time Period/Total Matching Calls within Time Period). When thereare equal calculated Call Gap values, ties may be broken using theOptimized Buyer Weight and then, if still equal, Strategic BuyerPriority, and if still equal, the equal buyers may be randomized toforce a rank among them.

Referring now to FIG. 10, a flow diagram for a ranking process is shownaccording to a non-limiting embodiment. Here, the method starts at step102 when a telephone call is received (e.g., an inbound call) orinitiated (e.g., a system or operator-generated call). Next, at step104, a pool of potential call-buyers for the telephone call isdetermined. As described herein, a number of factors may influence thedetermination of the pool of potential call-buyers. Next, at step 106,the targeted distribution mix values for the pool of potentialcall-buyers are normalized according to the methods described herein.Then, at step 108, a Call Gap for each call-buyer is calculated based onthe normalized targeted distribution mix value, a time period, and anumber of calls made in that time period by that call-buyer. Asdescribed herein, there are multiple other ways to calculate the CallCap. Next, at step 110, the pool of call-buyers are sorted based atleast in part on the Call Gap for each call-buyer, using a suitablesorting algorithm.

A Round Robin mode of ranking (i.e., an even cadence model) is theTargeted Distribution Mix mode described above when all availablecall-buyers have equal targeted distribution mix values. If this occurs,there will be even cadence among the ranking of call-buyers for eachcall. This mode effectively ranks call-buyers by the last time they wereawarded a call because the normalized targeted distribution mix quantityis the same for each call-buyer.

An Optimal Buyer Weighting ranking mode fulfills orders in order tooptimize profits. The Optimized Buyer Weight may be calculated with thefollowing equation: (Effective Price-Per-Call*normalized Gap to (Dailyor Total) Order Limit Percentage*normalized Strategic Buyer Priority);where Effective Price-Per-Call is equal to [Price*(1−ReturnRate)*(1−Qualification Rate)]. Various other equations may be used. Thecall order of the call-buyers may then be ranked based on thiscalculated Optimized Buyer Weight factor.

In the Optimal Buyer Weighting mode, the Gap to the TargetedDistribution Mix may be substituted for the Gap to Order LimitPercentage. Further, the Optimal Buyer Weighting mode may incorporateweighting of the equation components. For example, a user may providevarious weights to different factors to build their own algorithm foroptimizing the distribution of calls. Call-sellers can therefore adjustthe weights of different variables in response to call distributionfeedback they receive from call-buyers. It will be appreciated thatusers may provide weights in various different ways, including enteringinput or manipulating selectable options on one or more graphical userinterfaces.

An algorithm in a preferred and non-limiting embodiment of the OptimalBuyer Weighting mode of ranking may execute the following equation tocalculate an Optimized Buyer Weight: (EffectivePrice-Per-Call*normalized Gap to (Daily or Total) Order LimitPercentage*normalized Strategic Buyer Priority*normalized TargetedDistribution Mix); where Effective Price-Per-Call is equal to[Price*(1−Return Rate)*(1−Qualification Rate)]. Weights can be providedto each of these variables so that the targeted distribution mix couldpotentially carry more weight than the Gap to Order Limit percentage.The Strategic Buyer Priority Weight may be set to zero (0) unless it isneeded. The call-buyer order may then be ranked based on the calculatedOptimized Buyer Weights.

Potential call-buyers may be dynamically weighted for each phone call.In non-limiting embodiments, the weights of the variables or call-buyerscan be directly changed and/or input by a user. In non-limitingembodiments, an even Round Robin distribution method may be used basedon how long it has been since the call-buyer was previously offered acall. In other embodiments, the call-buyer ranking originate from athird-party system and be passed into the call distribution system. Oncea ranking is either determined or received, an optimization betweenawarding the call to the highest ranked, soonest-availablecall-buyer/agent can be staged in real-time by implementing theinitiation of calls to each ranked call-buyer/agent with successive calllots and using intentional delays between initiating calls to competingcall-buyers in said call lots. The delays allow the system to providehigher-ranked call-buyers with a better chance at winning the callcompetition by providing one or more call-buyers with a headstart.

In this manner, a call can be awarded to the first call-buyer/agent toanswer or, in a non-limiting embodiment, the first call-buyer/agent to‘Press a key’, e.g., ‘Press 1’ or some other keypress/sequence, on theirtelephone keypad. The key-press affirmatively indicates that thecall-buyer/agent is ready and able to accept the call, and preventsconnecting a caller into a voicemail system or a hold queue. Once acall-buyer/agent is awarded the call, the other lines are immediatelyhung-up on. In another embodiment, in the case of a second overlappingcall that comes in prior to the other lines being hung-up on, theremaining competitor buyers/agents can be immediately be placed intocompetition for the second call.

In another non-limiting embodiment, and as described above, the call canbe awarded to the highest ranked call-buyer/agent who presses a keywithin a predetermined number (e.g., “X”) of seconds or time period (a‘wait for better call-buyer/agent’ time period) from the moment firstcall-buyer/agent presses a key. If the highest ranked call-buyer/agentis also the first call-buyer/agent to press a key, the competition maybe immediately ended and the caller will be connected with said highestranked caller-buyer/agent. Once the ‘wait for better call-buyer/agent’period elapses, the call is awarded to the highest ranked buyer whopressed a key and the other lines are hung-up on. In anothernon-limiting embodiment, during the ‘wait for better call-buyer/agent’the available call-buyers can increase their bids or buy the callimmediately by agreeing to a specified higher price than their baselinebid on their call order.

There are numerous ways to stage call competitions between multiplecompeting call-buyers and/or agents. For example, a headstart mode maybe used where the top-ranked call-buyer is called first and, after apredetermined number (e.g., “X”) of seconds, the rest of the matchingcall-buyers are called. The maximum number of ranked call-buyers calledper caller can be set to control call distribution costs. As anotherexample, a headstart mode may dynamically size the headstart lot andmaximum included call-buyers/agents to call in order to optimize thespeed of connection against the call distribution costs. For example,with ten (10) ranked buyers in the competition, the headstart lot sizemight be set to two (2) buyers who are called first and then, after five(5) seconds, an additional lot of five (5) are called, and then afteranother five (5) seconds, the final lot of five (5) buyers are called.The call competition can end as soon as any of the buyers presses a keyto win the call.

The dynamic aspect of the headstart lot size and associated lot delaysis based on optimizing the process so that the fewest number ofcall-buyers are called to connect a call at the highest effective pricewithin a predetermined number (e.g., “X”) of seconds. For example, ifgoal is to sell the call at the highest price within four (4) rings orabout 15 seconds, the system can adjust Effective Price Per Call[Buyer's price per qualified call*(1−the Buyer's qualified call returnrate)*(qualified calls for this buyer/connected calls for this buyer)]by multiplying it by the frequency the Buyer presses 1 within 15 secondsof call initiation. So, if a Buyer always presses 1 within 15 seconds ofcall initiation, the Time Adjusted Effective Price PerCall=100%*Effective Price Per Call. And if a Buyer historically onlypresses 1 within 15 seconds of being called 50% of the time, the TimeAdjusted Effective Price Per Call=50%*Effective Price Per Call. Thenusing the probabilistic Time Adjusted Effective Price Call to determinethe call order for the competition will yield highest Effective PricePer Call on average within 15 seconds, provided the call competitionsare allowed to run for 15 seconds.

Through these time-to-connect metric adjustments to the Effective PricePer Lead, the call-buyer rankings are further modified. Then, by varyingthe headstart lot size to be larger or smaller, the system can optimizetoward the highest connection rate possible within a predeterminednumber (e.g., “X”) of seconds, at the highest effective price, with thefewest number of competing buyers in the competition (e.g., at thelowest call distribution cost).

In other non-limiting embodiments, the lot sizes can be constant andstaggered with a uniform delay between successive lots. In anon-limiting embodiment, an overflow call-buyer of last resort may beused to ensure connections are always made. This buyer of last resort ischaracterized as a buyer who will buy a large number of calls but at alower price point. In other non-limiting embodiments, if a call fails toroute within a specified competition within the allotted competitiontime, the system can loop and retry the matching buyer pool a secondtime, or it can use IVR to offer the caller an opportunity to be calledback when a representative becomes available (e.g., intelligentabandonment).

In non-limiting embodiments, a ranked pool of potential call-buyers oragents are dynamically passed-in or otherwise supplied from a rankingsystem in real-time. For example, the ranked pool may be provided insubstantially real-time when a call is first received. In this example,the call distribution system may query the ranking system for the listof ranked potential call-buyers or agents, and the call distributionsystem uses the returned list to implement the competition among thecall-buyers or agents for distributing the call. Further, the calldistribution system may gather additional information via an IVR systemand provide that information to the ranking system for use in developingthe matching ranked set of call-buyers/agents. It will be appreciatedthat this ranking system may be hosted by a third-party, and may also behosted by the call distribution system.

In non-limiting embodiments, the call distribution system may match thecaller to existing lead information based on the caller's phone numberand then provide this information to the ranking system for use indeveloping the list of ranked call-buyers. In other non-limitingembodiments, the call distribution system may be configured uponreceiving a form fill data lead to first seek and award this data leadto a call-buyer/agent, prior to connecting the awarded call-buyer/agenton an outbound call to the lead (i.e., initiate the call to thecall-buyers/agents first), or it can occur when a lead is called by thesystem first, prior to initiating the call to the call-buyers/agents.

In the either case, the information about the call connection can bemade available to the lead in a web browser, including information andlinks related specifically to the awarded call-buyer/agent. This mayinclude, for example, updating an on-screen call status monitor with theawarded buyer/agent information, links, and/or pictures, and providingthe lead with the awarded buyer/agent's caller ID telephone numberinformation on screen so the lead can recognize who is calling them.This method of providing more information about who is calling promotesthe answer rate and connection rate between leads and callbuyers/agents. Once a call is connected, the awarded party, callduration, link to a recording, and other call metadata can betransmitted back to the ranking system or some other third-party systemfor tracking, billing and additional analysis.

In non-limiting embodiments, once a ranking is dynamically developed, anauction and/or competition can be further staged by the use of lots.Lots, as used herein, refer to the group of call-buyers who are calledsimultaneously or in rapid succession. Lot sizes can range from one tomany. The lot sizes can vary with each lot and can vary dynamicallybased on the number of available potential buyers and other factors.

In non-limiting embodiments, a call-buyer may indicate that they areavailable to receive calls by setting their office hours, having an openorder, and/or having their status set to “Active.” However, thecall-buyers still answer the phone and press a key, e.g., press 1, toaccept the call.

As already described, in a competition and/or auction, the winner caneither be the first buyer to press “1” or some other key, sequence, orinput, or it can be structured so that the winner is the highest rankedbuyer to press “1” or some other key or input within a predetermineddelay (the “Wait for Better Buyer Delay”). For example, if the highestranked buyer presses “1” first, the competition is immediately ended andthe winner immediately awarded the call. If a non-highest ranked buyerpresses “1” first, they can still lose the competition if a higherranked buyer presses “1” within the “Wait for Better Buyer Delay”duration, e.g., a specified duration or number of seconds from the timethe first buyer to press “1.” In non-limiting embodiments, the presentinvention allows for buyers to be able to increase their bids during the“Wait for Better Buyer Delay” period. For example, if a call-buyerpresses “1” and has a lower bid than the current highest biddingcall-buyer, the system may offer that call-buyer the opportunity toincrease their bid by a specified amount to jump to the highestposition. The system can also affect several rounds of bidding to seekthe maximum revenue for the call. These additional real-time adjustmentsto win the call outright are communicated by the call-buyer to thesystem via telephone keypad key presses, via voice recognition, and/orvia on-screen software controls.

In a non-limiting embodiment, in the “Wait for Better Buyer Delay”scenario described above, the system may allow a call-buyer to increasetheir bid price to buy the call outright and end the auction immediatelyfor either (i) their maximum predetermined bid; (ii) an offered price inreal time, e.g., “win this call now for $Z”; or (iii) for an additionaldollar amount, e.g., “win this call now for an additional $Y.” Theseadditional real-time adjustments to win the call outright arecommunicated to the system via telephone keypad key presses, via voicerecognition, and/or via on-screen software controls.

In non-limiting embodiments, lot structures may be optimized. Forexample, the system may use multiple goals to optimize the lot sizes,delays, and/or sequencing. These goals can include, but are not limitedto:

1. Connection Qualification Rate, i.e., qualified calls divided awardedcalls;

2. Net Revenue, e.g., selling the call for the highest price net ofexpected returns/rejection rates;

3. Caller Hold Time, e.g., minimizing the caller hold time or keeping itbelow a threshold, e.g., X seconds maximum hold time;

4. Geography, e.g., the approximated distance between the caller and theservice/product supplier;

5. Quality, e.g., the qualitative ranking of call-buyer based on userreviews or other third party available ratings systems;

6. Priority, e.g., the strategic value of the buyer to the callaggregator or call supplier;

7. Purchase Order Size, e.g., the relative size of the open orders;

8. Purchase Order Fill Rate, e.g., the fill rate against the daily,weekly and monthly goals for the call-buyers; and

9. Call distribution costs, e.g., minimizing the expense of thecall-buyer seek process incurred by the calls made to the non-winningcall-buyers.

In a preferred and non-limiting embodiment, time-based qualified billingmay also be used. Further, call routing may be prioritized based on aneffective cost-per-call. As already described, a real-time auction maybe used to award the call to the highest bidder among availablecall-buyers/agents. In such an auction process, a time-based buffer(e.g., a specified duration) may be used to wait for a higher rankedcall-buyer or sales agent prior to awarding the call. The bid rankingsmay be modified by return rate, close rate, or tenure of the agent.

In non-limiting embodiments, provided are methods and systems to repeatcall distributions. Settings may be provided to protect leads sold to agiven call-buyer or agent, and subsequent calls from the same lead maybe re-routed to a previously assigned call-buyer/agent. In an alternatenon-limiting embodiment, repeat calls from the same lead are routed todifferent call-buyers/agents and specifically excluding apreviously-billed call-buyer or a previously connected but not billedcall-buyer. Further, in non-limiting embodiments, customers may beprovided with the ability to reconnect to a previously connectedcall-buyer, or to rate shop and contact a new service provider, at thecaller's direction. In some non-limiting embodiments, calls may bequeued for multi-buyer and single company distribution. IVR systems maybe used to collect and qualify data. IVR may also be used to handleoverflow calls and provide the caller with the ability to intelligentlyabandon the call. In non-limiting embodiments, a voice message may bereceived and then delivered to the awarded call-buyer and/or sales agentprior to initiating the outbound courtesy call back to the caller.

In non-limiting embodiments, overflow IVR is used as a transfer agentand presents callers with retry and/or intelligent abandonment options.For example, when a call distribution fails because no matchingcall-buyers are available in a timely manner, this embodiment canprovide retry attempts to re-query the pool of potential serviceproviders/call-buyers, or it can offer to hold the caller's place inqueue until such time as a matching available service provider islocated, prepared for the call, and the outbound follow-up call to thelead is facilitated.

In non-limiting embodiments, an automated after-hours call-handlingmethod may be used to greet callers. For example, a greeting may beplayed and the caller may be presented with a number of options forspecifying a call back time on the next available business datepresented. Such options may include, but are not limited to, (1) as soonas possible; (2) morning; (3) afternoon; (4) evening; (5) or auser-selected specific time within the business' stated office hours.Upon confirming a selection, an SMS text message and/or emailconfirmation may be transmitted to the lead. Then, at a specified timewhen the office re-opens, a pre-call reminder warming SMS text messagemay be sent out a minute, or at some other predetermined time interval,before the first call attempt, e.g., a pre-call warming SMS to improvethe answer rate.

In a non-limiting embodiment, the system initiates the connection with acall into the agent/representative/call-buyer first, presentsinformation about the lead's request for the callback, and then connectsthe agent/representative/call-buyer on an outbound call to the lead. Inan alternate non-limiting embodiment, the system makes an attempt toreach the lead on the telephone first, prior to connecting with arepresentative/agent/call-buyer. In this case, up to three (3) (or someother predetermined value) initial outbound call attempts withpre-recorded messages are made, separated by three (3) minutes (or someother predetermined time period) in the first ten (10) minutes (or someother predetermined time period) asking the lead to press ‘1’ to speakwith their representative.

In non-limiting embodiments, the system may be used to schedule calls.For example, a voice message may be received and delivered to an awardedcall-buyer prior to speed-to-respond features. For example, once a voicemail is received by the system, the system may then continue seeking acall-buyer who wants to take the courtesy callback. The awardedcall-buyer then has the ability to hear the voicemail prior toinitiating the outbound call. Further, a direct date and time may bereceived via an IVR system for a follow-up call. In examples, atime-of-day category may be selected by the caller through an IVR systemor otherwise. A return call may be automatically queued for as soon aspossible within allowable calling hours. Further, the return call may befacilitated through a call-buyer competition, an auction or through asales-agent-first calling process to award the call prior to initiatingthe outbound call leg to the customer. In some examples, the customermay be called first to ensure that they are still available for the callprior to facilitating the scheduled call assignment through a call-buyercompetition, an auction or through a sales agent distribution mechanism.In non-limiting embodiments, Express Written Consent (EWC) may beobtained through opt-in IVR and optional voice recording, affirming apositive consent to receive an automated callback using a pre-recordedvoice message. This feature facilitates compliance with the TelephoneConsumer Protection Act (TCPA).

In another preferred and non-limiting embodiment, the system may be usedin connection with call marketing lead generation, including connectingthe caller with the right sales person as fast as possible, andcapturing inbound calls. Features of the presently-invented systeminclude a variety of processes, such as concierge services throughreal-time “speed to press ‘1’” competitions and auctions,standardization of live transfer campaigns, ensuring the caller isqualified and that the lead data is joined with the phone call data forclean transfers every time without the problems associated withunqualified callers and missing data, and optimization of the marketingspend for each agent with internal call distribution based on product,state licensure, agent performance, and daily agent calls caps.

Referring now to FIG. 11, an advertisement on a search page is shownaccording to a preferred and non-limiting embodiment. This allows a userto connect with the best available service provider from a pre-screenedminimum rated list of potential service providers. For example, thesystem may identify a ranked list based on geography and specialty fromamong pre-screened providers. Pre-screened providers may be required tomeet a minimum generally accepted rating on a commercially availablerating system, like the Better Business Bureau and/or user reviews. Thesystem queries a service provider availability checking service todetermine who is available to speak with the caller right now andcompletes the phone connection between the member and the best availablepre-screened service provider. In this manner, consumers can be directlyconnected with service providers matching their search parameters whoare available to talk at that moment. The system reduces delays relatedto voice messages, emails, and answering services. Also, providersreceive phone calls and client information from highly interestedpotential clients at their moment of need. These calls can be trackable,demonstrating a significant return on investment (ROI) on the providers'marketing spend for participation in the call-buyer network.

Referring now to FIG. 12, a graphical user interface (GUI) is shownaccording to a preferred and non-limiting embodiment. This GUI showsservice providers that have been selected by a user, such that theproviders can call the user in an organized fashion that is managedthrough the GUI. This functionality may also be driven directly from anaudio session with a user who controls the settings and manages thecalls via an IVR system. As an example, the service providers shown inthe GUI of FIG. 12 may be connected to the user in the order shown.

While the foregoing written description of the invention enables one ofordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be thebest mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand andappreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents ofthe specific embodiment, method, and examples herein. The inventionshould therefore not be limited by the above described embodiment,method, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods within thescope and spirit of the invention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method fordistributing phone calls, comprising: receiving an inquiry from anindividual having caller identification information; determining, withat least one processor, a call time to call the individual; generating,with at least one processor, a text message in response to receiving theinquiry, the text message comprising the call time and service providerinformation, the service provider information comprising a serviceprovider telephone number; automatically transmitting, with at least oneprocessor, the text message to the individual from the service providerprior to the call time; and automatically initiating a phone call to theindividual at the call time from the service provider telephone number.2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprisingselecting the service provider telephone number by matching an area codeof the caller identification information for the individual with areacodes for a plurality of service provider telephone numbers.
 3. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the inquiry comprises aphone call from the individual outside of service provider businesshours, further comprising: presenting the individual with call backoptions; and receiving a selection of a call back option from theindividual, wherein the call time is determined based on the selectionof the call back option.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the inquiry comprises an online form that is completed by theindividual, and wherein the call time is determined from the onlineform.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the textmessage is automatically transmitted to the individual at apredetermined time prior to the call time.
 6. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, further comprising: determining that the phone callis unanswered by the individual; and automatically initiating asubsequent phone call to the individual at a predetermined time afterinitiating the phone call or determining that the phone call isunanswered by the individual.
 7. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, further comprising: determining, with at least one processor,that the phone call is unanswered by the individual; determining, withat least one processor, a new call time; generating, with at least oneprocessor, a new text message comprising the new call time and theservice provider information; automatically transmitting, with at leastone processor, the new text message to the individual prior to the newcall time; and automatically initiating a new phone call to theindividual at the new call time.
 8. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein determining the call time comprises selecting a timefrom at least one of the following: a relative time after sending thetext message, a specific time of day, a range of times, a time requestedby the individual, or any combination thereof.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the service providerinformation comprises at least one of the following: a company ororganization name, a brand name, a type of good or service, a name of acall-buyer associated with the service provider, or any combinationthereof.
 10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein thephone call is initiated between the individual and at least one of theservice provider and an automated pre-recorded outbound call service.11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the text messageis generated and sent to the individual immediately or at apredetermined time after receiving the inquiry.
 12. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the text message is atleast one of the following: a Short Message Service (SMS) message, aMultimedia Message Service (MMS) message, an email message, a web-basedmessage, or any combination thereof.
 13. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, wherein the text message comprises a text message body, andwherein the text message body comprises the call time and the serviceprovider telephone number.
 14. The computer-implemented method of claim1, wherein, after receiving the inquiry from the individual, the methodfurther comprises determining a service provider agent from a pluralityof service provider agents, wherein the service provider telephonenumber comprises a telephone number of the service provider agent. 15.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein, after receiving theinquiry from the individual, the method further comprises determining aservice provider from a plurality of service providers.
 16. A system fordistributing phone calls, comprising at least one computer including atleast one processor, wherein the at least one computer is incommunication with a telephone network, the at least one computerprogrammed or configured to: receive an inquiry from an individualhaving caller identification information; determine a call time to callthe individual; generate a text message in response to receiving theinquiry, the text message comprising the call time and service providerinformation, the service provider information comprising a serviceprovider telephone number; automatically transmit the text message tothe individual from the service provider prior to the call time; andautomatically initiate a phone call to the individual at the call timefrom the service provider telephone number.
 17. The system of claim 16,wherein the at least one computer is further programmed or configured toselect the service provider telephone number by matching an area code ofthe caller identification information for the individual with area codesfor a plurality of service provider telephone numbers.
 18. The system ofclaim 16, wherein the inquiry comprises a phone call from the individualoutside of service provider business hours, and wherein the at least onecomputer is further programmed or configured to: present the individualwith call back options; and receive a selection of a call back optionfrom the individual, wherein the call time is determined based on theselection of the call back option.
 19. The system of claim 16, whereinthe text message is automatically transmitted to the individual at apredetermined time prior to the call time.
 20. The system of claim 16,wherein the at least one computer is further programmed or configuredto: determine that the phone call is unanswered by the individual; andautomatically initiate a subsequent phone call to the individual at apredetermined time after initiating the phone call or determining thatthe phone call is unanswered by the individual.
 21. The system of claim16, wherein the at least one computer is further programmed orconfigured to: determine that the phone call is unanswered by theindividual; determine a new call time; generate a new text messagecomprising the new call time and the service provider information;automatically transmit the new text message to the individual prior tothe new call time; and automatically initiate a new phone call to theindividual at the new call time.
 22. The system of claim 16, wherein thecall time is determined by selecting a time from at least one of thefollowing: a relative time after sending the text message, a specifictime of day, a range of times, a time requested by the individual, orany combination thereof.
 23. The system of claim 16, wherein the serviceprovider information comprises at least one of the following: a companyor organization name, a brand name, a type of good or service, a name ofa call-buyer associated with the service provider, or any combinationthereof.
 24. A computer program product for distributing phone calls,comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable mediumincluding program instructions that, when executed by at least oneprocessor, causes the at least one processor to: receive an inquiry froman individual having caller identification information; determine a calltime to call the individual; generate a text message in response toreceiving the inquiry, the text message comprising the call time andservice provider information, the service provider informationcomprising a service provider telephone number; automatically transmitthe text message to the individual from the service provider prior tothe call time; and automatically initiate a phone call to the individualat the call time from the service provider telephone number.